This invention relates to a hinge for mounting the door of a vehicle for swinging between open and closed positions on the body of the vehicle. Such a hinge conventionally includes a door section adapted to be connected rigidly to the door and pivotally interconnected with a body section which is adapted to be connected rigidly to the body.
A vehicle door hinge usually is equipped with a hold-open mechanism which retains the door releasably in a fully open or nearly fully open position and which also may retain the door releasably in a partially open position (i.e., an intermediate position). A popular hinge with a hold-open mechanism is disclosed in Marchione U.S. Pat. No. 3,370,317. In that hinge, a torsion bar is utilized to produce the hold-open action. The torsion bar hold-open, however, is bulky and has a tendency to squeak as the door is opened and closed.
Schonitzer U.S. Pat. No. 2,992,452 also discloses a vehicle hinge with a hold-open mechanism. The Schonitzer hinge relies on a spring-loaded plunger for hold-open purposes but, like the hinge of the Marchione '317 patent, the Schonitzer hinge is bulky and takes up a significant amount of space in both the lateral and longitudinal directions.
Recent developments in vehicle hinges involve a "door on-door off" principle which is disclosed in Brockhaus U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,016. In accordance with this principle, the door is fully installed on the vehicle body at one stage of an assembly line and, during such installation, the door and body sections of the hinge are adjusted as necessary to achieve a proper fit between the door and the body. Thereafter, the door is removed from the body by disassembling the hinge but without disturbing the positional relationship between the door and the door section of the hinge and between the body and the body section of the hinge. A door on-door off hinge is designed in such a manner that, when the hinge is reassembled at a later stage of the assembly line, the positional relationship or fit between the vehicle door and body is the same as was established earlier during the adjustment stage. In this way, the door can be installed and adjusted at one point along an assembly line, the door can be removed to facilitate painting or other assembly operations, and then the door can be quickly and easily re-installed without need of further adjustment of the door relative to the body.